Hello Everyone!

We are writing this blog from Bali where we have just spent the last 2 weeks! Our flight over from Singapore was fine - except for the screaming kids in front of us! We had TV's though - so not to complain! We flew into Bali Airport where we had to queue to get our Visa on arrival - always a nightmare! After that, we were picked up by our hotel and taken to our first hotel at Kuta Beach. The hotel was very nice with a swimming pool. We were also treated to ANOTHER cultural performance which mostly consisted of men 'barking' and some very tacky singing of Lady in Red. We had LOADS of TV channels which we were very happy about! Shamefully, we have both become GLEEKS - which if you dont know, means we love the programme GLEE on Star World!

Kuta Beach is PRETTY HECTIC so we only stayed for 3 nights. There are loads of places to eat though - and even a shopping mall which surprised us! (inside which was a New York Burger joint, with the slogan "BUILD A BETTER BURGER!") However, it seems to be a bit of a party place and we didnt really fit in :) Everyone in Kuta wears matching Bintang Beer Vests (The Local Beer), and we dont have one of those either, so we REALLY dont fit in! haha! We did however, see a friendly mouse in our hotel restaurant - (he lives in the spirit house)! We named him Butler and left a chip for him to eat later! :)

Next we went a little further up the beach to Legian which is the same beach but just a different section. It was a lot quiter than Kuta but there were absolutely loads of Hawkers trying to sell us anything and everything! The first hotel we checked into there was horrible so we left without staying the night and checked into a lovely hotel just down the road! There we had their pool pretty much to ourselves for the 3 nights we stayed!

After Legian, we moved onto Seminyak, even further up the same beach. Here we got our first KITCHEN! We were so excited that we went straight down to the VERY expensive supermarket and spent 300,000! (Indonesian Rupiah, not pounds luckily!) The first night in our cottage we cooked fajitas, which tasted all the better for being our first homecooked meal in 4 1/2 months! We also cooked pasta and bacon sandwiches and BEANS ON TOAST. It was brilliant! The pool there was great because it was so DEEP that I couldnt touch the bottom ANYWHERE! At those cottages, we adopted the NOISIEST CAT in the WORLD, called Pepe. We fed him chicken one day and beef the next and he never left us alone after that!

After that place, we moved inland to Ubud and to the Bhanuswari Hotel. This hotel was in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE and it took the taxi driver ages (and cost us a fortune) to find it! He had to ask 3 seperate people who all pointed in opposite directions! We got there eventually though, and it was beautiful. Right in the middle of the rice paddies with another lovely pool. We went down to ubud one day, bought a souvenir and icecream, and had a lovely lunch. They were celebrating a festival there too (see photos). On our way back, we were very scared as our driver was falling asleep!!

We left there yesterday to return to Kuta for one night in the same hotel we stayed in originally which was fine. Today we are wasting time waiting for our flight to Singapore at 8 tonight! We land in Singapore at 10 and our flight to SYDNEY leaves at 20 past midnight! WE CANT WAIT TO GET THERE! It is a 7 1/2 hour flight though!

Anyway, lots of love to you all and hope you are well.

Lots of Love

Lucy and Tom xxx